


familiar terrain

by kurgaya



Series: rival villages au [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anbu Hatake Kakashi, Developing Relationship, Different village!AU, Don't copy to another site, Iwagakure | Hidden Stone Village, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:21:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23281654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurgaya/pseuds/kurgaya
Summary: “Oh, it’s you,” says the terrapin, after Kakashi removes his ANBU mask. “Bringing trouble again?”[Canon-divergence!AU. Different village!Team Gai. Kakashi detours on a mission, and not for the first time].
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Maito Gai | Might Guy
Series: rival villages au [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1706758
Comments: 18
Kudos: 156





	familiar terrain

**Author's Note:**

> **Notes** : ok ok ok it was only after I wrote this that I checked and realised the pinning was supposed to go the other way around but whoops?
> 
> This is for the kkg discord. Ya'll know who you are :)

Shinobi guard Iwagakure around the clock. Kakashi crouches low in the shrubbery, closing the black-green cloak of Konoha around his neck. It’s decent camouflage for the rocky mountainside - were he hiding from anyone but Iwa shinobi. He’s more comfortable in the wilds and the trees, where the forests tower high and their roots tangle low. The Land of Earth is a wasteland in comparison; wide and vast and too close to the sky. Kakashi prefers hunting in the woodland shadows, not out in the open or tumbling down the cliffside.

The mountains are a greater threat than the Iwa shinobi. The creatures that roam it are a dangerous sort. The Land of Fire has its fair share of predators (including Kakashi himself) but he almost shat himself at the size of Iwa’s bears. The shinobi patrol hardly seems necessary. Few people are crazy enough to brave the mountainside - and fewer survive it. The Iwa patrol probably haven’t seen a _live_ intruder for weeks, but that works to Kakashi’s advantage.

He tracks two shinobi through the wolf-eyes of his mask. Greenery is sparse on the village outskirts but he uses what he can. The village itself is built into the rockface and cut from soaring spires of stone. Bridges criss-cross between the buildings. Some of them are little more than rope and wood, and when a gale rushes down through the mountain, they clatter like monstrous teeth. The villagers must be used to it, but every gnash of wood and shrieking gale sends shivers down Kakashi’s spine.

The shinobi pass by. He remains still, silently drumming on the hilt of his tantō. Killing them would only raise suspicion. When the night quietens again, he leaps down into a nearby roof-garden, rolling the impact through his shoulder. A bird peeps from the tree but doesn’t scatter, and he stamps down on his chakra, shrinking towards the ground. The soil is comforting under his feet. He holds his breath, calming himself, un-threatening himself. The bird stays perched, losing interest. A small, rabbit-like animal scurries to safety.

Another gale crashes through the village. Kakashi’s hood whips over his mask, hiding his wolf-white face from view. He waits until it, too, passes, before dropping further into the village. The Tsuchikage’s residence peaks in the centre, far taller than any other structure. He ignores it. Instead, he heads west towards a familiar cluster of houses. On a red-topped roof he stops and glances down to the balconies below. Dim light blinks back up at him; the only light the lower levels ever see. A path cut into the rock spirals down into the gloom. He’s heard much of the lower markets, and if the sun was high, he would smell the spices wafting up from below. Gai speaks highly of his country’s cuisine. Kakashi doesn’t have the stomach for it - or the taste-buds. They were fried off the last time Gai challenged him to a curry-eating contest.

Gai’s apartment overlooks one of the many pockets of green-space in the village. Unlike Konoha, where the parks are wide and the trees stand tall, Iwa is dotted with tiny patches of wildlife. Each is more cramped than the last, perfectly trimmed to maximise space. There must be dozens across the village, tucked away where only the locals can find them. The one below Gai’s window is large enough for three, maybe four people at a time, but more often than not is populated only by tortoises. Just like Kakashi, they aren’t native to this region, and Gai summons them here at his wont. Kakashi drops into the garden and inspects the water feature, and sure enough, a bleary-eyed terrapin dodders over to him.

“Oh, it’s you,” says the terrapin, after Kakashi removes his ANBU mask. “Bringing trouble again?”

“Will you stay on watch?” Kakashi asks, ignoring the question. Ideally, using chakra to summon a dog won’t be necessary, but Gai’s tortoises aren’t always so amendable. He’ll leave a dog on guard if he has to, of course, but if he can avoid leaving a chakra signature, then he will.

“Suppose,” says the terrapin, wiggling into the water. “Are you staying long?”

Kakashi slots the mask back onto his face. “I doubt it.”

The terrapin seems to have doubt, too, but it watches Kakashi jump up to Gai’s balcony without a fuss. Were it to make a fuss, Kakashi could snuff it back to the summoning plane without batting an eye, but he knows Gai wouldn’t appreciate it.

Despite his best effects, he cares for how Gai thinks of him.

Somehow.

Kakashi knocks back his hood once he’s inside. Gai’s apartment is far less sparse than Kakashi’s, filled with workout equipment and nicknacks from his students. Kakashi’s never met the kids - and probably never will - but he’s heard plenty about them. One of them’s definitely that run-away Hyūga boy, no matter how hard Gai denies it. He’s a terrible liar. Kakashi doesn’t concern himself with clan politics anymore so he couldn’t care less, but the vindictive part of him was pleased to discover where Konoha’s precious eyes had ended up.

The apartment is quiet: even Gai’s snoring is quiet tonight. Kakashi rolls his eyes at the small mercy and sheathes his tantō, shoving a hand through his hair. He’s safe here despite every reason otherwise. Gai is the only shinobi in the village who won’t kill him on sight - or try to, at least. Kakashi smiles behind his mask. He can outmatch any of Iwa’s lackeys.

The _clink_ of metal warns him of an assault. The hallway to Gai’s bedroom is dark and short, barely a few steps, and the blur charging down it reaches to strike in a second. Kakashi evades, the kunai instead slicing through his cloak. He blocks the next one with his forearm, hearing it _ping!_ off his vambrace and disappear back into the dark. It’s a meagre attempt at assassination and he laughs, evading the follow-up punch by the breadth of a hair.

“Seriously, Gai?” he says, and he’s still laughing when Gai sweeps out his feet and tackles him to the ground. He lands hard, head clattering behind his mask. The kunai at his throat steals his breath, and the hand twisting his arm is strong and sure. Kakashi forces himself to lie limp, heart thundering like chakra under his skin.

Gai doesn’t commit to the kill: he never has. This close, Kakashi can see the realisation battling its way onto Gai’s face, even in the dark.

“Kakashi?”

“Yes, it’s me. Are you going to let me take my mask off?”

Gai doesn’t budge an inch - as he shouldn’t. Kakashi telegraphs his movements with ease, used to lying on the floor like this. He’s woken Gai no small number of times. He slides off his ANBU mask to reveal - at least to Gai - a more familiar mask, and is rewarded by the swift removal of the kunai and a confused, but noticeably delighted, cry of, “Kakashi! What’re you -?”

Kakashi wiggles himself free from the hold. Gai is pliant now, harmless, and Kakashi gives him a playful shove. “We have _got_ to stop meeting like this. Let me up.”

“My apologies!” Gai offers a hand which Kakashi bats away. This doesn't deter him at all and he inspects the nick to Kakashi's armour with an almost horrified expression. “Are you all right?”

“Obviously.” Kakashi rubs a hand over his neck, just to make sure. Gai only pinned him because Kakashi _let_ him, and they both know that. Gai reaches up to fuss anyway, but Kakashi’s glare has him reconsider. Nobody touches his neck, not even Gai.

He tries to draw their attention to something else. “You always hesitate.”

The bait works. Gai bristles, concern snapping into affront. “I do not.”

Kakashi rolls his eyes. The sharingan flashes in the dark but Gai doesn't flinch. “What’re you, five? If you _didn’t_ hesitate, I’d be dead.”

Now Gai flinches, face crumpling. He’s the only one in the village who would be sad about Kakashi’s death too. “I would never forgive myself if I -”

That sentence doesn’t need finishing. Kakashi shoves past him and into the bedroom. He's heard Gai warble enough times before. “Yeah, yeah. Aren’t you happy to see me?”

The mood lifts instantly. “Of course!" comes the cry from behind him, and then the room seems to shine with Gai's Youthful glow. (Kakashi’s never been able to reproduce that effect, even with his sharingan. He’s not sure he really wants to.) "You are my most Wondrous and Esteemed Rival and I -!”

“Save it. I’m crashing here tonight.” Kakashi toes off his shoes and kicks them under the bed. He shoves his tantō under a pillow. The cloak, he unclasps and throws at Gai. Everything else, he’ll sleep in, even here. “Got a problem?”

“Never,” Gai says, holding the cloak as gently as a baby. It’s weird and Kakashi makes a face before helping himself to the bed. “But - I must ask -”

Kakashi's used to this spiel, too, and interrupts. “I’m heading north. I’ve no business in Iwa. That’s more than you need to know.”

That Kakashi’s even _in_ the village is more than Gai should know. But it’s too late to second-guess himself now, and Kakashi’s not made a name for himself by ignoring his gut. He buries himself under the duvet, glad he isn’t sleeping outside. Another run-in with a bear might actually kill him.

Gai is quiet for a moment. Then he folds the cloak and sets it aside. He tidies Kakashi's shoes, too, and doesn't ask him to remove any of the armour. Then he unrolls an extra futon for himself. Finally, he lays the kunai on the bedside table where they could both reach it. “I understand,” he says, and Kakashi believes him. He’s the only person that probably could. “Good night! Sleep well! Your trust in me has not been misplaced!”

Kakashi stares at that kunai for a long while, until Gai’s snoring lulls him to sleep.

He’ll be gone before dawn, before Gai’s awake. The disgruntled terrapin outside will see a leaf-cloaked shinobi dart away before tucking back into its shell for a nap.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! All comments appreciated :)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podfic] familiar terrain](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24682702) by [sakumos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sakumos/pseuds/sakumos)




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